


Wandering Stars

by ishipstarwars



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Visions, Jedi Temple, Kissing in the Rain, Lost Memories, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo Loves Campfires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 18:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20019202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishipstarwars/pseuds/ishipstarwars
Summary: Set after the events of The Last Jedi. Rey visits the ruins of Luke’s Jedi Temple, intent on getting some answers. The Force Bond she shares with Ben Solo reopens, letting them communicate for the first time in weeks. In the shadow of the temple, Ben and Rey discover another connection between them that brings them closer together.





	1. Chapter 1

“Rey, it’s time to go.” A stranger’s voice called to her in the darkness and tugged at her arm.

Rey’s eyes fluttered open, waking from a dream, and found herself alone in the cockpit of her ship. The persistent beeping of the navigation console informed her that she had reached her destination. Rey switched off the alarm and stretched- she hadn’t meant to doze off during her journey, but given her recent lack of sleep it wasn’t surprising that she had.

She had found it very difficult to sleep after she escaped from Crait with the remnants of the Resistance. When she laid down to rest, she would find her thoughts drifting back to Ben, to that moment in the throne room when she had rejected his offer to rule the galaxy with him. She had to push away the loneliness and disappointment she felt about leaving the one person whom she felt understood her the most.

Rey still felt his presence sometimes, although the connection through their Force bond seemed much weaker than before. At first there were flashes of anger from him, a bitter sense of betrayal and abandonment. But as days turned into weeks, that anger seemed to fade, replaced by a painful longing and loneliness. She silently endured these glimpses into his mind, but she didn’t dare respond to them. She knew if she opened her mind to him she might unwittingly reveal her location, and that would put the Resistance in danger. Besides, her own emotions were a mess when it came to Ben Solo, and even if she could talk to him, she had no idea what she would say.

When she did sleep, she often dreamed of a forest planet, one with the ruins of a stone temple and a feeling of foreboding in the air. She had a strong feeling it was the same temple Master Skywalker had used to train his Jedi students before Kylo Ren had destroyed it all. Sometimes the dream would fade to black and she’d hear a woman’s voice, someone who called her name and tugged at her arm. Rey would wake up feeling confused and more exhausted than before.

The Resistance had recently reunited with some of their allies and established a new base, so Rey was able to research the name and coordinates of the forest planet. Then she requested leave from General Organa to go on a solo mission, explaining that her Jedi senses were beckoning her to go there. Leia had nodded, understanding the summons of The Force all too well, and bid her a safe journey.

So here she was, touching down a small shuttle craft in a clearing of grass as the sun began to set. She checked the sensors for signs of life- aside from some native animals in the forest nearby, she was alone. 

Rey briefly wished she had brought Chewbacca or one of the droids along, but something told her she had to confront these dreams on her own. Besides, she had her trusty staff, her Jedi training and Master Luke’s lightsaber that she had recently repaired. If she ran into any trouble she couldn’t handle, she could always contact the Resistance for help.

She stepped off the ship’s loading ramp and gazed across the clearing. There was a meadow of wildflowers on the far side with an overgrown pathway winding its way up a hill. The temple ruins waited for her at the hill’s summit, a stone giant sleeping in the gathering shadows.

A shiver ran down Rey’s spine, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. It wouldn’t do much good trekking through the ruins at night. Whatever answers the temple held, it could wait until tomorrow. She decided to set up camp and save the exploring for the next morning.

She pulled out some food for dinner, put on a thick robe to ward off the cold and settled down in front of a small campfire. The sun had vanished beyond the horizon by then, leaving Rey’s fire as the only source of light in the encroaching darkness. 

A few minutes into her meal, she heard the forest around her go quiet, and everything seemed to still. She felt the Force bond trying to open again, and for some reason- loneliness, boredom, who knows- she decided not to suppress it this time. Ben’s figure appeared across the fire from her, cloaked in black robes, looking just as weary as she was.

“Hello Ben.” She tried to keep her tone neutral, her emotions guarded. She wasn’t sure how this encounter was going to play out.

“Rey.” He said her name softly, as if he didn’t want to risk her closing their connection again.

She searched for something clever to say to him, but she was too tired to think of anything. “Why do you keep reaching out to me?”

“I wanted to see you,” he replied, his voice growing stronger, his eyes fixed on her.

Rey could feel her cheeks warming, and hoped that he couldn’t see her blush. She forced her gaze away from him and busied herself with tending the fire. “I didn’t think you’d want to see me after what happened. I heard you’re Supreme Leader now, and since I’m part of the Resistance we shouldn’t be talking to each other.”

“Well, there’s no one else around to see us.” He stood up and walked around the edge of the fire, gazing out at the shadows on the hillside. “I can feel your isolation. Where _are_ you?”

She glared at him, irritated. So much for guarding her emotions. Did he really think she’d reveal her location to the First Order? She rose to grab more branches for the fire, resisting the urge to chuck them at Ben’s head. She decided to dodge the question and tossed the branches in the fire instead. “I’m used to being alone. I’m a scavenger, remember?” 

Rey felt a hand on her shoulder, and her body tensed in surprise. He was standing right next to her.

Her gaze travelled from his hand to his arm, then up to his face. She watched as the shifting firelight created shadows that danced across the thin scar on his cheek. It reminded her of that rainy night on Ahch-To, when they had touched hands over a blazing fire. His expression had softened- those fierce eyes of his were pleading with her for understanding. 

“I told you, you’re not alone anymore. And you’re not just a scavenger to me.”

The Force bond weakened, then Ben’s form faded and disappeared. Rey was left alone once more, her shoulder still warm from his touch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Temple Location: I tried researching the planet where Luke had his temple from the films, but every source I found stated it was an unnamed planet. I know that in Star Wars Legends it was based on Yavin 4, but since it's not directly mentioned in the films I decided to keep it unnamed for now. I based the descriptions of the planet off the few shots seen in TFA and TLJ.
> 
> ***Please leave comments/kudos if you like the story so far. ***  
> I have another story to check out if you're interested: [The Contest ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19885093/chapters/47096479). Rated Mature for some adult content :-)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey enters the Jedi temple ruins and experiences a powerful vision.

Rey woke the next morning, rising from her makeshift bed on the floor of her ship. The dream had come again last night, but it had changed slightly. This time, instead of ruins she saw the temple whole and pristine, before its destruction. The sun had bathed the hill in a soft glow, and instead of foreboding there was a feeling of peace and promise in the air. It was a pleasant dream, but at the end she still felt that familiar tug on her arm and a woman calling to her.

She ate a quick breakfast and changed her clothes, pulling on a gray tunic and pants with some comfortable boots for hiking. She clipped her lightsaber to her belt and grabbed her staff from a storage compartment. 

As Rey stepped outside, her eyes were drawn to the campfire ashes from the night before. She felt a pang in her chest as she remembered her encounter with Ben. It had felt good to see him again- she no longer sensed the anger and malice that had consumed him on Crait. Still, she wondered if she could trust him. He was, after all, the leader of the First Order.

She crossed the clearing and paused at the foot of the hill. The temple didn’t look as threatening as it had the night before, but there were some dark clouds forming in the sky behind it. It looked like rain was in the afternoon forecast- she would try to return to her ship before then.

Rey set out on the winding path through the meadow, stepping carefully to avoid the occasional insect or thorny weed. The wildflowers surrounding her gave off a fresh, sweet smell in the morning air as she made her way uphill. She noticed one white flower was more prominent than the others- it was small, with five pointed petals resembling a star. They looked familiar to her, though she couldn’t place where she had seen them before. Did they grow on Ahch-To, or Takodana perhaps? Certainly not on Jakku.

She reached the top of the hill after a kilometer or so of walking. The temple loomed before her, sending her chills even as she stood in the warm sunlight. It was exactly as she had seen in her dreams- a burned out structure of wood and stone, with most of the outer walls crumbled into dust. The domed roof was still standing, but there was a large jagged hole on the left side where it had caved in. Several small buildings were spread out around the temple’s perimeter- dormitories for the Jedi in training, most likely. Grass and weeds had spread over and inside these piles of rubble, but there were no flowers here. She steered clear of these buildings, not wishing to see whatever human remains were buried beneath the greenery.

Rey stopped at the entrance of the temple, trying to swallow the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. The air was deathly still, and she felt like she was trespassing in this desolate place. She knew what had happened here- Master Luke had told her, and she had seen glimpses of it through The Force. Still, she knew the dreams would never cease until she discovered why she had been summoned here.

She gathered her courage and crossed the threshold, walking under a stone archway that looked like it could fall apart at any moment. Her boots crunched over the rubble as she reached the main chamber. The charred remains of tables and benches were scattered across the room, and blackened scraps of cloth that used to be tapestries hung from the walls. There were a handful of linear burns etched in the stone floor- marks from a lightsaber duel.

Rey craned her neck upwards to study the cracked dome above her. The sun that had originally shone through the gap in the roof was now obscured by clouds, dimming the light in the chamber significantly. She frowned as the clouds darkened, casting the room into shadow.

A strange, offensive scent reached her nose- what was that? She sniffed, struggling to recognize the smell, and then it came to her- smoke. Something was burning.

Rey spun around, watching in horror as the temple transformed before her eyes. Flames spread up the walls around her. Robed figures were shouting to each other, fleeing past her in a panic. A woman’s screams echoed off the stone walls from a room nearby.

Rey backed away from the heat of the flames, trying not to panic herself. This was a vision from the past, the destruction of the temple playing out before her like a hologram. But why did it feel so real? The stench of burning wood and flesh intensified, making her feel nauseous. Her eyes began to water as the smoke thickened. Vision or no, she had to get out of here. 

She made her way back towards the archway, dodging the smoldering piles of furniture. She was steps away when her exit was blocked by an ominous figure. Her blood ran cold as she recognized the menacing black mask and the red lightsaber that blazed brighter than the flames.

It was Ben. No, she corrected herself. Kylo Ren.

Rey stumbled backwards as he advanced, fear tightening in her chest like a vice. Surely he couldn’t really see her. And yet he continued stalking toward her, the power of the Dark Side crackling around him like a storm cloud. Rey’s foot caught on an overturned chair and she fell down, her staff rolling loose from her fingers and clattering to the floor. Kylo Ren stood above her, raising his lightsaber to strike.

Rey stared up at him, her heart pounding against her chest. She knew she should draw her own lightsaber, but she couldn’t make herself move. She heard a voice in her head- her own voice, spoken what seemed like a lifetime ago-

_“You are a monster,”_ she had said to him, her words laced with anger.

_“Yes, I am,”_ he had replied.

Kylo Ren's lightsaber swung down towards her. The crimson light blinded her for a moment, and then it disappeared, along with its bearer.

Rey blinked, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The vision had ended and she was lying alone on the floor. She looked around wildly to make sure he was gone and the fires were indeed extinguished. Then she scrambled to her feet and fled, not wanting to spend another moment in the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Please leave comments/kudos if you like the story so far. Thank you!***  
> I have another story to check out if you're interested: [The Contest.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19885093/chapters/47096479) Rated Mature for some adult content :-)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another connection between Rey and Ben Solo is revealed.

Rey burst out of the temple ruins, running as fast as her feet could carry her. She fled past the ruined buildings and down the hill, feeling the wind lash at her back as if it were pushing her onwards. The dark clouds above had spread across the sky by the time she reached the meadow. She fell to her knees among the wildflowers, her lungs threatening to burst.

She hunched over, chest heaving, hands clenched in the dirt. She felt sick and exhausted from running, but she had to get away from that place. Her mind raced with questions- why did she have to see all that? She knew that Kylo Ren and his followers had destroyed the temple and everyone in it. Why did she have to witness it firsthand? Was it to remind her of the monster he truly was? There had been so much darkness in him- why did she continue to insist that there was something in him worth saving?

Rey knelt on the ground for a while, breathing in the scent of damp earth and letting her body recover. She felt the sting of tears gathering at her eyes, so she let them fall to the ground.

“Are you alright?”

She wiped her eyes and raised her head, and that’s when she noticed the pair of black boots in front of her.

Kylo Ren. No, she corrected herself. Ben. This was Ben standing on the pathway before her, wearing a simple black shirt and pants. That hateful mask was gone from his head. His face was flushed with labored breathing. It looked like he had just run uphill from wherever his ship had landed…

_Wait a minute._

Ben took a step forward, offering his hand to her. “Rey-“

“Don’t,” she held up a hand to ward him off. “Please, just give me a minute…”

She was not ready, physically or emotionally, for this conversation. Her eyes fell on the lightsaber hanging at his belt and she shuddered. Her heart was racing again, and she struggled to calm herself. He was really here. What was going to happen now?

Ben’s gaze shifted from the hillside to the ruins, then back to her. “You went to the temple.”

Rey nodded, finally accepting his hand and standing up. Their clasped hands lingered a little too long before releasing. Something stirred deep within her, something that spread goosebumps up the back of her neck and flushed her cheeks. She met his gaze and wondered if he felt it too.

“How did you find me?”

“I didn’t. I kept having dreams about this place. I didn’t want to come back here, but it seemed inevitable. I felt your presence as soon as my ship came out of hyperspace. I sensed the fear in you- it felt like your life was in danger.”

Rey saw the concern in his face and felt a familiar pang in her chest. That’s why he had run into the meadow- he was worried she might be in trouble. “I had a vision at the temple. I saw what happened- it felt as if I was really there.”

He was silent for a few moments. His face became unreadable, all traces of emotion hidden away. “I told you I was a monster.”

Rey let out an exasperated sigh and walked past him. “Look, we don’t have to talk about this right now. I just want to get back to my ship.”

She reached the edge of the clearing and stopped in her tracks, feeling her stomach turn uneasily. Something was wrong. For one, her shuttle was gone, replaced by some sort of trading vessel. And secondly, three people stood near the ship, only a few meters away from her.

One of them was Master Luke.

Ben’s voice came from behind her in an angry hiss. “That’s impossible.”

He was right- Rey had felt Luke’s passing through The Force weeks ago. And the Jedi that stood there looked so much _younger_ than she remembered. He was talking with two merchants, a man and a woman, none of them seeming to notice Rey and Ben.

“It’s another vision.” She walked toward the trio, hearing Ben’s footsteps follow after her. She felt comforted by his presence- the first vision had left her upset and confused, but at least she wasn’t alone for this one.

The merchants looked unremarkable- two humans dressed in plain clothes. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but from their agitated faces it seemed like they were arguing about something. Luke stood with his arms folded in his Jedi robe, listening to the couple with a stoic expression.

Rey heard a sound coming from the far side of the ship - a child’s laughter. She followed the sound to its source and found two figures sitting together on a shipping crate. The first was a dark haired teenage boy dressed in a beige robe and pants- a Jedi apprentice. The second was a little girl, maybe four years old, holding a handful of wildflowers. She was dressed similar to the merchants with her brown hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head. 

“What’s this one called?” the girl asked, giving her companion a small white flower. It was the same one Rey had seen in the meadow earlier.

“That’s a wandering star,” the boy replied. “My mom told me about them.”

The girl's face scrunched up with disapproval. “Wandering star? That’s a silly name.”

The boy smiled and held up the flower. “The stems are really fragile, so when the winds blow downhill they snap and the flower flies away. Like this-”

The boy’s eyes narrowed in concentration, and suddenly the flower lifted off its stem, spinning slowly in mid-air. The girl gasped and clapped her hands excitedly, unaware that he was using The Force.

“Rey, it’s time to go.”

Rey’s attention snapped back to the merchant woman. It was the voice from her dreams. The woman walked over to the little girl as she hopped down off the shipping container. She gently tugged the girl’s arm and led her away.

The knot in Rey’s stomach turned tighter until she could barely breathe. The little girl was her. And the merchants must be her parents, before they had abandoned her on Jakku. She had been here on this planet before, but she didn’t remember it.

The little girl stopped halfway to the ship’s ramp and waved farewell to the boy. “Bye, Ben! Thanks for the flowers!”

_Ben..._

Rey turned to him as the vision dissolved around them, the clearing returning to normal. His gaze was still fixed on where the boy had been, his eyes wide in shock.

The air grew dense as the first drops of rain began to fall. The soft pattering of water hitting the ground was the only sound disturbing the silence between the two of them.

“I remember now,” Ben said finally, his voice low and uneasy. “Your parents came here once, trying to sell some relics they believed were linked to the Jedi. Luke asked me to watch you while he talked with them. He asked them to bring you back when you were older, to become an apprentice. They refused.”

The revelation hit Rey like a slap in the face. She grit her teeth, fists clenching in anger. “All those years I wasted on Jakku, waiting for a family who never returned. I could have been here instead, I could have trained with you and Luke and I never-”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “If they had brought you back here, before everything that happened…you would have been killed with the others.”

“You don’t know that!” she insisted, stepping closer to him. “We could have been friends, Ben! I could have helped you, I could have…”

Rey choked back the rest of her words, afraid to say them aloud. _I could have saved you._

She felt something between her fingers and looked down at them. She had grabbed his hands without even realizing it.

“We can’t change the past,” Ben said softly, his fingers pressing gently against hers.

Rey met his gaze- those dark pleading eyes made her heart ache for him. He looked so lost, so hopeless. Her muscles tensed with the desire to do something, _anything_ to remind him he wasn't alone anymore.

“You’re not a monster, Ben. Not anymore. Not to me.”

She stretched up on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his mouth. She felt him freeze for a moment, clearly surprised. Then he was kissing her back, pressing his lips to hers with a fierce hunger that took her breath away.

The stirring sensation Rey had felt before burst into life, spreading heat throughout her body even as the cold rain pelted down on them. She drew her arms up around Ben’s neck, fingers curling into his thick black hair. His own arms wrapped around her, pulling her close and lifting her off her feet.

The kiss ended abruptly as thunder rumbled through the clouds, followed seconds later by a flash of lightning that lit up the sky. They stared at each other, both coming to realize the danger of their situation.

“We need shelter,” Ben said at last.

Rey nodded, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. “My ship is closer.”

A wicked grin crossed his face as he bent and scooped her up into his arms. She laughed and clung to him as he carried her across the clearing to the waiting shuttle.

“Sounds like the storm’s moved on.” Rey lay against Ben in a pile of blankets on the shuttle floor. Their rain soaked clothes had been discarded hours ago and were hanging up to dry in front of a warm engine vent.

“Good.” Ben’s fingers trailed down her bare shoulder. “All my dry clothes are back on my ship.”

“I guess that means you’re stuck here for a while.” She grinned, her hand tracing circles across his broad chest.

“Guess so.” A worried look crossed his face as he stared up at the ceiling. “Rey… I have to go back.”

Her smile faded- she had expected this, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. If he didn’t return to the First Order soon, they would come looking for him. Likewise, she had to return to the Resistance before her comrades began to worry about her. They were the balance of light and dark in this war, but Rey hoped that it wouldn’t always be so.

“Ben, what happens to us tomorrow? Do we have to start fighting again?” Her voice quivered as she spoke. After everything they had seen and done today, she couldn’t imagine facing him on the other side of a battlefield.

He turned to face her and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I don’t know what tomorrow holds. All we can do is make the most of tonight.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

Rey woke the next morning to sunlight streaming in through the open loading ramp. She felt fully rested- no dreams had troubled her last night. Her heart sank a little as she realized Ben was gone, but she knew it was for the best. She sat up and looked around- dozens of little white flowers had been spread out around her.

_Wandering stars._

She smiled, feeling a blush spread across her cheeks. Ben had done this while she slept. She thought back on the visions she had seen the day before- they had shown her two very different versions of Ben Solo. She knew there was good in him- there was no denying that now. The next time their Force bond opened, she’d be waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Timeline- Okay, I may have stretched a *little* bit with the timeline here, but I couldn't find any definite dates of when Rey was left on Jakku and when Ben began his training at the temple. So I thought the shared memory was a plausible way to explain their connection.
> 
> 2\. Wandering Stars are based off of white cypress vine flowers. Also "Wandering Star" by Portishead may have gotten stuck in my head while I wrote this :-)
> 
> 3\. Thanks so much for reading! If you're looking for another quick read, please check out [The Contest.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19885093/chapters/47096479) Rated M for some adult content.


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